Prince of Avalon
by genhoss
Summary: Ranma's desinty is revealed, forces are moving agaist him. allies from two lifetimes will fight by his side. Excalibur ranma sailor moon crossover
1. Chapter 1

This is a fic idea that would not leave me alone so I decided that instead of waiting until I finish my other two fics I will start this one. This fic will be a sailor moon Ranma and Excalibur crossover. For those that do not know Excalibur is an awesome movie from the 70's I think it is in my opinion the best king Arthur movie ever.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

A man in European armor was ambushed in the forest. The man knowing death was near, stood defiantly and yelled, "No-one shall wield Excalibur but me." Thrusting the sword into a large rock bordering a nearby stream the man collapsed and escaped into deaths embrace.

Time passed.

Tournaments were held, to see who was worthy of wielding the sword of kings.

Time passed, the land was in chaos.

A boy dressed as a squire searched for a sword for his older brother. He contemplated stealing one but then decided that that would not be honorable. The boy came across a clearing where the sword of Uther Pendragon stood half buried in a large rock. Looking around the boy saw no one around. Deciding that if he could free the sword his brother and father would forgive him for losing his brothers sword, the boy braced himself and pulled.

The sword came free giving off an unnatural light as it reflected the suns rays. A man dressed as a minor noble came into the clearing and yelled, "Quickly put the sword back, put it back before anyone notices."

The boy was afraid; he listened to the man and returned the sword to its prison. As the sword was returned a knight, named Ulrich rode into the field followed by a mass of people. Ulrich shoved the boy out of the way and attempted to free the sword. He was unsuccessful. Various other knights tried in vain to free the sword.

The people cried out, "Let the boy try." After a lot of jeering from the crowd the boy's father pushed him forward.

The boy steeled himself, with fire in his eye's he lifted the sword out of the stone once again.

Many were outraged.

Leon De Grance called out, "If a boy has been chosen than the boy shall be king."

Some agreed, others were still outraged.

A man wearing a metal skullcap came out from the forest.

Many of the crowd recognized him and yelled, "Merlin what type of trickery is this. We have not forgotten you." Those same people recoiled out of fear and left the field.

The boy was confused, he went to his father and asked, "Father I can not be king, you are my father surely you or my brother are more worthy."

The man looked at the boy with love in his eyes and said, "No, we are not worthy, more importantly I am not your father."

"You are not my father than who is?"

The man smiled at the boy and said, "When you were but a baby Merlin came to me and bid me to raise you as my own. At first I did it out of fear but then it was out of love."

The boy looked around for the man named Merlin and saw him leaving back into the wilderness in which he came. Panicked the boy chased after him.

It was twilight when the boy had caught up to the wizard. After a meal, Merlin laid himself down to sleep. The boy was scared, he had never spent a lot of time out in the wild by himself, hearing noises the boy swung his sword around awaiting an attack from the darkness.

Merlin was behind the boy and said, "What are you afraid of?"

The boy startled jumped around only to be face to face with the legendary wizard. With his voice shaking the boy said, "I don't know."

"Would you like me to tell you?"

The boy nodded.

"The dragon."

Stepping back the boy asked what's the dragon."

Merlin chuckled, with his eye's glowing he said, "The dragon is that tree, that rock, the bird that calls into the night, and he is life."

The night passed.

The next day the boy woke up to breakfast.

Merlin asked, "So now that you are king what will you do?"

The boy looked at the wizard and said, "I need knights, at the tournament, Leon De Grance was in favor of me, but others were against him."

Merlin smiled and said, "Quickly then, now as we speak his castle is under siege. We must return to the others."

At castle De Grance

A vision of beauty was defending her home, she was in danger the boy saved her. The battle was won.

There was a feast to celebrate the young king's rise to the throne, bored with the festivities the king wandered out of the castle and approached Merlin. He asked if she would be his queen. Merlin responded, "She will be your queen but she is not your destiny."

Time passed.

The king was at a bridge, his men had been attempting to cross, but it was in vain. Seeing no other night capable of fighting the king stood before the challenger himself.

The battle was fierce, seeing no other option the king called upon the power of Excalibur and struck the brave knight. The knight collapsed as the sword broke into two. The king was shamed he had broken what could not be broken, destroyed the sword that had been forged when the world was new. As emotions ran unchecked through his soul, he chucked the now useless sword into the water.

The boy grieved at his arrogance. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his sword lifting out of the water. Merlin told him to take it. He rushed into the water and reclaimed the now whole sword.

The knight introduced himself as Lancelot.

Time passed, a kingdom was built, the land prospered. The Knights of the Round Table spread peace throughout the land.

The king found his sister, Morganna the daughter of Egrain.

Morganna was jealous of her half brother; she went to Merlin and convinced him to train her.

Time passed.

The king was betrayed by his wife and best friend.

Morganna grew in power and imprisoned Merlin.

One unholy night Morganna came to her brother using the dragon to alter her appearance to look like his queen and seduced her brother.

A child was conceived and the land fell into darkness.

Fearing for his people the king sent his knights out to quest for the grail so that they might restore the land, because the king was the land and as one prospered so did the other.

Percival was alone; the majority of the knights either had betrayed the king or had died.

A boy appeared before his father and demanded his sword, the king declined.

War was coming.

Percival found the grail and returned to his king.

Restored to his health the king called his foster brother and rode out to war with the last of his knights.

The land blossomed once more.

The night before the battle Merlin appeared before the King and told him of his imprisonment."

That same night Merlin as a ghostly apparition tricked Morganna and imprisoned her after she was almost slain by her own son.

Lancelot rejoined his king and the battle was joined. It was fierce but in the end the king mortally wounded managed to kill his own son, after seeing that Lancelot was slain.

As he lay their dieing, Percival came before him. Knowing that he was dieing the king sent Percival to return Excalibur to the land.

Percival returned and tried to lie to his king but was unable to do so.

The king was frustrated but knew the sword must be returned to the calm waters until it is needed once more, he instructed Percival once more to dispose of the sword.

This time Percival obeyed, as he returned he saw a ship in the sea. The ship bore the markings of Avalon, dropping to his knees Percival knew that his king had died and was being prepared for his next life.

Ranma woke and looked around, the dream it was real. He could feel it in his soul, he was Arthur, he was Ranma, and he was the prince of Avalon and destiny beckoned for him. Rising up from his futon, Ranma crept over to his window careful not to alert the sleeping panda. Silently he crawled out to the roof and jumped down to the ground.

In his soul, he could feel himself being pulled in the direction of the koi pond. Standing before the pond Ranma looked into the water and saw a ghostly image in the water. Slowly just as it was in his dream Excalibur rose up through the water. Reaching down he grasped the sword and felt a swelling of power build up within himself. The power was too great, he was slowly losing conciseness, knowing that the sword needed to be protected he reached down into his soul and came across a hidden memory. With a flick of his wrist the sword of kings vanished into subspace.

----------------- Across town -----------------

A man stood before a window looking across the city. As his gaze pointed into familiar direction he whispered, "Arthur, my friend, soon it will be time to embrace your destiny that was denied to you before."

------------------- In Juban --------------

A young woman dreamed of the past, she was dancing, she knew joy and love. A man danced with her, he was handsome and proud, and there was no obstacle he could overcome.

-------- In an apartment not far away from the young woman --------

A man dreamed, this dream was unlike any he had before, in this dream the history of his past was revealed.

A great warrior born from common folk rose up though a great army of man. This army had no mages, many would consider them barbarians. However, where they went order and justice was known where once there was chaos.

Two small kingdoms both magical in nature, where mages were common, had princesses with no prince to engage them to. The queens of this kingdom were friends and wished to call each other sisters, but it was not to be.

Both queens took notice of a young warrior king who was known for his pursuits of justice and order. The queens decided to seek out this man and ask him to consider their daughters to be his queens.

The man was uncertain at first, but as time passed, the three grew to love each other. More time passed and the kingdom of Samaria was born, it had three capitals, Atlantis, which was northeast, and Avalon, which was northwest. It was the greatest of all earth born kingdoms it incorporated the magic of Avalon and the technology of Atlantis.

Time passed

The two-neo queens bore a son apiece, the prince of Atlantis was named Endymon, and the prince of Avalon was named Arthur the first. As the two princes grew up Arthur became so much like his father. His brother sought less straining pursuits, he was often found in his garden, or in the library.

On Arthur's tenth birthday he was given a sword said to be crafted by the gods themselves, his brother became jealous, he was no warrior, he was arrogant, snobbish and had little interest in fighting.

Four years later

Above in the skies a queen watched, she saw great potential and felt that it was time to unite with the kingdom of earth. She decided to visit the great king with her daughter with hopes of uniting the kingdoms.

Princess Serenity the fourth the young prince of Avalon, but also befriended the prince of Atlantis. Endymon's jealousy grew, his half brother was always treated better, he had fame and glory, woman swooned at the mere mention of his name, but Prince Arthur the first had eyes only for Serenity the fourth.

Arthur became cursed by a powerful witch, it was a chaos curse. One year later he was killed, circumstances unknown.

Princess Serenity wept and mourned for almost two years, during that time Endymon rarely left her side.

It was the eve of the moon kingdoms demise when Endymon was soul- bonded with Serenity the fourth; they were to be wed in a year.

Mamoru Chiba woke with a start, he could feel his brothers sword.

---------------- Elsewhere -------------

Another young man was dreaming, in his dream he was the son of a great king, but he wanted nothing from his father but his sword. When his father offered him love he chose war instead.

-------------- Back in Nerima ----------

A woman woke with a start, she felt power, and she wanted to wield it for herself.

---------------------------------------------------------------

This is a short chapter, well actually it's the prolouge. I felt that it was necessary for the basic plot of Excalibur to be written . Forgive me for not doing it justice. Also I chose to combine a few myths about Merlin, basically he is combined from a miniseries that I forgot the name of but basically all I got from it was that Merlin ages backwards so he can predict the future. However, his predictions are less accurate than Pluto's. As you can see this is an altraverse, Ranma it is after the failed wedding, sailor moon is after the defeat of Pharaoh 90.


	2. Chapter 2

Notes: Well I had the next chapter of reconstructing oneself was ready to be proof read but I didn't like it so I scrapped it and will probably get it ready later. Redefining honor chap 10 is with one of my awesome proofreaders and will be posted soon. Oh, I do not own Ranma, sailor moon or Excalibur.

---------------------------------------------

Pluto was irritated; her irritation was the result of seeing a small glitch with the time gates. She had looked into the future and seen crystal Tokyo as usual, but something was amiss. For the life of her she could not figure it out, the vision the gate showed her seemed off. So here, she was searching the future for a problem that she did not know about.

She had been asleep dreaming about crystal Tokyo when she was rudely interrupted by a large concentration of magic going off. The last time she had felt anything close to that was around ten centuries ago. Unfortunately, she had never paid attention to that event because it was too early to start the manipulation of crystal Tokyo.

The time gates are fickle about how you can use them, due to an order from Serenity the first who had them built in the latter years of her rule. The order was meant to limit the amount of "Seeing" that the guardian could do, that way free will would not be hindered. Sailor Pluto disagreed with this because it limited the best possible outcome for her work.

Around four hundred years ago, the gates had shown her the rebirth of the sailor senshi as well as the moon princess. Since then Sestsuna had been painstakingly working on creating Crystal Tokyo. In her opinion, that was the best outcome, sure billions would die and only a selected few would be allowed to live. It was for the best, humanity would survive and everyone would be happy forever while the reincarnation of Princess Serenity ruled over all.

---------------------------------------- Tendo dojo --------------

Ranma woke with a groan, slowly regaining his senses he realized that he was not in his room. The early morning sun shined down on him without restriction and he could feel the ground on his back. As he became more aware of his situation, he also realized that his neck hurt worse than a hundred mallet strikes with his head coming in a close second. Grunting in displeasure Ranma struggled to his feet.

"Oh my Ranma, are you alright?"

Ranma tried to turn his head but was stopped as he nearly fell over from pain. After regaining his balance he said, "I'm not sure Kasumi, I think I slept wrong or something."

Kasumi took a few steps forward, looked at Ranma, and stared at him attentively.

Ranma shifting uncomfortably under kasumi's gaze said, "I'll be fine Kasumi."

Kasumi grabbed Ranma's hand and said, "Nonsense Ranma, you should go see doc Tofu before your father gets up and wants to spar."

Sighing in frustration Ranma said, "Ok Kasumi, I'll go. I just hope that the doc is up already."

----------------- On route to Tofu's clinic -----------------------

Ranma walked slowly down the street, if you call stumbling every other step walking. His head was bent at a slightly unnatural angle from his head becoming lodged in-between the rocks he accidentally used as pillows last night. He had tried to adjust his neck by himself to no avail.

His thoughts though were not on his current predicament but on the events of last night. He thought, "_Ok, so I am the reincarnation of King Arthur. I have an extremely powerful sword that I need to keep hidden because more loonies are going to be after me."_

"_I feel completely different than what I felt yesterday. It feels like I am seeing things in a new light. Yesterday I was almost warming up to the idea of spending the rest of my life with Akane but now as I look back on it I fail to see how I ever had deep feeling for her. I mean we are both immature, she hits me a lot and fails to trust me. I am not much better though, I insult her often even though some of it is well dissevered on her part. Wait a minute I slept next to the Koi pond last night and didn't get wet." _

Realizing that he had not yet turned into a girl, Ranma started to get excited. He was about to do a series of back flips when his sudden movements aggravated his misaligned neck. So instead he started to happily chant, "Never going to be a girl again, not today, tomorrow or the next day." Seeing the ladle lady standing at her door carefully watering the concrete, Ranma stepped up to her, did his best attempt to bow at his eternal tormenter, and said, "You have been a worthy opponent, but as of today our fight is over."

The elderly woman blinked at him and just smiled. Ranma was about to continue on his way when he saw her take her ladle and reach it into the pail. Still smiling the woman said, "Isn't that nice."

Then splash.

Ranma felt the familiar tingle of her curse wash through her body and wanted to curse the Kami for her distress. After spending a minute attempting to glare daggers at her nemesis (It is hard to glare when your target is giving you the I am so innocent my shit don't stink look) Ranma bowed and said, "Touché." She then took off in a huff and continued on her way stumbling towards doc Tofu's clinic.

---------------------- Tofu's clinic -----------

Tofu was busy polishing a very familiar looking metal skullcap lost in his thoughts. He was busy thinking about the past and his failure to his friend/king. He knew that the past was not completely his fault, the whole getting tricked by Morganna, imprisoned, then finally escaping his imprisonment only to fail at banishing Morganna. There were more failures now though, a lot can happen in ten thousand years. With a sigh, he placed the skullcap on his skeleton Betty and waited for his first patient of the day.

Ranma stumbled into Tofu's clinic, calling out Ranma asked, "Hey doc, you in here?" While he waited for a response, he took the time to glance around the room. His eyes wandered from the various charts to the desk, after awhile they finally settled down upon the doc's resident nurse, good old Betty. He was about to shift his gaze once more when his eyes caught sight of a rather familiar looking skullcap. Blinking in disbelief, he stumbled forward to examine it closer.

"Ah, Ranma what can I do for you today?"

With his eyes still locked upon the object on Betty's head he replied, "Oh right, Doc I kinda passed out near the koi pond last night and used some rather large rocks as pillows. Now, I have a really stiff neck and can't seem to adjust it by myself."

Tofu took a few steps forward while he tracked Ranma's gaze, with a slight smirk he asked, "Something look familiar?"

Ranma was only halfway paying attention; the skullcap reminded him of his dream of his past. He knew that this was more than a coincidence. Still ignoring the doctor as his neck was realigned he asked, "Where did you get that?"

"Hmmm, get what? Oh, you must mean Betty, I got her years ago. Picked her up in England."

Ranma not realizing that his neck had been restored to pristine condition said, "No not Betty, that skullcap."

Tofu smirked; he had been waiting for this moment for centuries. Moving to where he could look the young martial artist/former king in his eyes he non-chalontly said, "Probably the same place you got your sword."

Slightly dazed Ranma responded with, "You pulled that out of the koi pond?"

Literal sweat drops could be seen flowing from the chiropractor's neck. Composing himself he said, "No, not the koi pond. "

Coming to his senses, Ranma flicked his wrist and summoned Excalibur. Exchanging glances between the sword, the skullcap and the doc he quietly asked, "Merlin, is that you?"

The newly recognized wizard truly smiled for the first time in centuries, the last time was when he spoke to Arthur the night before the battle. With obvious mirth in his voice he said, "Yes Arthur or rather Ranma as you are called in this life, it's me Merlin." As he spoke, his form shimmered lightly, revealing a European looking man with the same features as Doc Tofu.

Overcoming his shock and disbelief Ranma rushed forward and gave the man a warm embrace. (Arthur and Merlin had a father-son type relationship in the movie.) Slightly embarrassed of his show of emotion Ranma pulled back and asked, "What now? The sword called out to me for a reason and I am sure that you chose to reveal yourself because of it and since I am not born of English decent in this life there must be a reason."

Merlin smiled and thought, "_This is amazing, and already just remembering parts of his former self has changed so much of him. He is still the same Ranma, but now he has secondary memories that will only augment his abilities and not change the core person underneath, by much anyway."_ Taking in a deep breath, Merlin motioned Ranma to follow him into his office. After poring some tea and making sure Ranma was comfortable he said, "I am not fully aware of why parts of your soul have been awaken but I know of some things that must be done."

Locking eyes with his old friend Ranma asked, "What must I do?"

Returning his friends gaze he said, "Well, right now there are several things that you might want to do, nothing that you must do though."

"Ok."

After taking a sip of his tea Merlin said, "First I think I need to give you a history lesson." Seeing Ranma nod he continued, "I went to face Morganna after I left you all those years ago; I had meant to weaken her enough so that your son would slay her. Well your son did manage to wound her almost fatally but Morganna had just enough power left in her to survive. With the last of her energies she managed to summon forth the dragon one last time and escape."

Ranma jerked forward and said, "You mean she is free and running around somewhere?"

Merlin sighed and continued, "Yes she escaped. However, her escape was not without consequence. She wound up imprisoning herself as she had done to me. It took her almost seven centuries to reach the world of the living once more. I know this because it took me almost as long, the thing is though our magic has been severely weakened and takes time to undo the damage done by long incarceration." Holding up his had to stall any comments that were coming his way Merlin said, "Let me continue this story uninterrupted."

Ranma nodded.

"When I first learned that Morganna had escaped her prison I was still too weak to do anything to her so I sent Percival instead." Seeing that he was about to be interrupted Merlin once more held up his hand. Once he was positive of Ranma's silence he said, "Yes, Percival lived. You remember sending him questing to find the grail. Well it turns out that because he had been wounded he drank from the grail before delivering to you. That small drink gave him immortality. Now back to the story. I sent Percival out to defeat Morganna, I am not aware of all the details but he was defeated but not killed. You see out of all your knights, Morganna hated Percival the most. While almost all of your other knights betrayed you or died, Percival defied her. He did not succumb to her trickery and he escaped his death because the grail called out to him. Therefore, three hundred years ago I sent Percival to seek out Morganna so she would be defeated once and for all. It should have been easy, with her diminished magic's but she had allies. These allies were able to overcome Percival, what they did next backfired on them though."

Taking a moment to let Ranma digest this information Merlin took a sip of tea, seeing Ranma start to get a little impatient he continued, "In short they used one of their many potions to turn him into what he was not. Where once he was young looking he was now shriveled and old. His pure heart became perverted though not evil. In many ways he became a monster, although he never killed his allegiance was no longer to you. The good thing was though; he was not on their side either. Their plan backfired on them, once he awoke from their treatment he managed to escape and loot their village. He stole many magical artifacts and martial arts techniques and journeyed here to Japan to form his own school of martial arts." Seeing understanding dawning in Ranma's eyes he continued, "Yes, Percival is Happossi. I know it is shocking but that is what happened. I have tried over the years to undo the damage unsuccessfully. Now though I think we have a chance, my magic is still not at one hundred percent but combined with you and the strength of Excalibur we might have a chance."

Ranma was sitting quietly contemplating Merlin's story after a few minutes of silence he said," Basically you need me to draw upon the strength of Excalibur."

"Yes but it is more than that. We need to get him away from Nerima, away from Cologne."

At the mention of Colognes name Ranma tensed and asked, "Why do we need to get him away from Cologne/"

Tofu sighed and said, "Because Cologne is Morganna and even though Happossi is not her ally she does not want him to be restored. Especially now with you once again wielding Excalibur. She probably already knows that you have awakened part of your soul and more allies for you would hurt her chances of stealing the sword for herself."

"But how would she even wield the sword, she would have to be of the Pen Dragon line to wield it."

Merlin sadly sighed again and said, "Not necessarily, any mage trained in the arts of Avalon can hold Excalibur but only those of the Pen Dragon line can wield it to its fullest capacity. There is one other small problem though; if you have awoken then your former son has also been awoken. Cologne would probably seek him out so she can use him once more."

Ranma sighed it seems that things were going to get interesting very soon. Shaking his head he asked, "Can't you just find him and point him out to me, I mean you knew I was coming surely there must be away."

Merlin shook his head and said, "No, the only reason I knew you were coming is because I sensed Excalibur awaken last night. This morning I called upon the dragon to show me what happened, it will be some time before I can do so again. Partially because we need to take care of Happossi first, and I am nowhere near full strength. For some time now I have been devoting a large part of my magic to other uses."

"What other uses?"

"Right now that is the least of your worries, don't worry though I will tell you soon enough. Right now we need to plan a few things."

Ranma nodded his head in understanding and said, "You mean like: Freeing Percival, Keeping the sword away from my wicked half sister, Dodging attempts from my son to take Excalibur."

Merlin nodded and said, "Yes that and more. We also need to take care of your situation at home."

Ranma snorted and said, "Yeah good luck with that. Pops has my life so screwed up I can only commit ritual suicide."

Merlin shook his head and said, "No you have more options, but first let me ask you something? What are your feelings towards all of your fiancées?"

Ranma silently contemplated for a few minutes before saying, "Well I really don't love any of them. The funny thing is, is that last night before I went to sleep I would of probably married Akane. Now though I do not seem to like her that much. I guess having happy memories kind of gave me a clue to how relationships are supposed to work. I know that we are both to blame for our problems as well as our fathers but I just do not see myself with her in the future. Uchan I still view as a friend, actually I am seeing her as more of an acquaintance now. I do not think that I need to mention Shampoo or Kodachi. It's weird how my perspective has just shifted overnight."

Merlin nodded with sympathy and said, "Often when people remember their past lives their personalities shift, usually combing all of their past experiences that they remember. Though most of the times these memories are absorbed slowly and merge even slower, for some reason your memories were unlocked all at once, that caused your personality so shift. If you noticed, you are talking better, thinking more coherently and you seem to of gained some height and mass. The latter probably happened when you claimed Excalibur. Now that we have your feelings sorted out about you potential suitors what do you think of the others."

Ranma's face took on a dark look for a moment before he said, "Well pops I think I want to kill, that's disturbing because in this life I have only killed once and that was to save Akane. Mom is pretty high on my shit list for many reasons. Primarily for letting pops take me on that trip, but also for her harping on manliness as well as her obscure sense of honor. Mt. Tendo, I just want to beat senseless for putting his family through so much. If he had only grown up and recovered after the death of his wife his daughters would not be so messed up. Nabiki I understand and hope that she can have a chance at happiness, though I am no longer willing to let her run all over me. And kasumi makes me kinda sad because of all she has had to miss out on." As he said Kasumi's name he noticed that Merlin did not go crazy, looking at him oddly he asked, "Hey Merlin, why didn't you go all crazy when I said Kasumi's name?"

Merlin grinned and said, "Well before your memories came back to you I could not risk getting close to her because I feared that I might not be paying attention when you were restored." Seeing confusion on Ranma's face he clarified, "It takes a lot of effort for me to constantly use my magic. If I had allowed myself to get distracted then I might not have noticed you reclaiming Excalibur. Therefore, even though I have feelings for Kasumi I knew that my duty to you came first, so I just acted like a loon so we would not get too close. Now that you r memories have awoken I can start to slowly draw my magic back and then can see if I am able to pursue a relationship with her."

Ranma nodded and asked, "So what do we do now?"

Merlin grinned and said, "Well first we move you out of the Tendo's. Once we get you moved out I should have the paperwork ready to put you in my own clan. That solves most of your problems, with the exception of the amazons. We will not be moving far though, for some reason I feel we must go to Juban. Once there we should be able to restore Percival without interference." Looking at the time Merlin's for shimmered again and he said, "I think you might want to get going if you want to catch breakfast before school."

Ranma looked at the clock and was about to rush off when he was stopped by a hand on his arm. Looking at his old friend he asked, "Something else wrong?"

Tofu just shook his head and said, "No anything's wrong I just wanted to tell you to stop by here after school so I can make some last minute plans."

Ranma nodded his head and said, "Sure thing doc, I'll be here after school, it just depends on when I can lose the rest of the crew." With that said Ranma took off in an attempt to catch breakfast before he had to go to school."

------------------ Notes --------------

I know that Ranma is out of character but I hope that I explained that well enough if not let me know. In addition, there are some gaps and holes in the plot but I will be doing my best to weave everything together in later chapters because I have already divulged a lot of the plot before hand I really think it is necessary for me to leave the gaps in this chapter. But if I miss something and you want me to elaborate let me know. Thanks, oh, I am taking a mini vacation so I might not post anything for a while; it just depends because I am leaving Thursday.


	3. Chapter 3

Notes: in the last chapter I made a time frame error, I said ten thousand years when I meant to write one thousand years. Most historians agree that if King Arthur was real he existed between eight hundred and twelve hundred ad, although many historians seem to think that he was nothing more than a great warrior and not a king. Got to love the discovery channel.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ranma was deep in thought as he walked back to the tendo dojo for breakfast. He was thinking about all his experiences in his life and cursing himself for his childish behavior. As he neared the dojo, he decided that even though he was leaving and not going to mention it to anyone because it would be safer for all those involved that he needed to take care of one loose end. Even though he swore on his honor never to reveal Ryouga's weakness, he had come to realize that by keeping the secret he was allowing the pig-boy to dishonor everyone at the tendo dojo.

As he walked in thought the front door Ranma chirped out, "I'm back."

Kasumi peeked out from the kitchen and asked, "Was the doctor able to help."

Ranma nodded happily and said, "Yeah, he was. I would have been back sooner but we started talking and time kind of got away from us."

Kasumi smiled and said, "Well I left your breakfast in the kitchen just sit down at the table and I will bring it right out."

Ranma smiled happily at the prospect of an uninterrupted breakfast, looking around as kasumi brought in his breakfast he asked, "Hey Kasumi where is every one?"

Kasumi smiled and said, "Well I was going to wait until you got back to serve breakfast but your father insisted that we go ahead and eat without you. Right now your father is with my father running an errand for me. Nabiki and Akane left for school already."

Ranma nodded as he ate his breakfast surprising kasumi. Kasumi was surprised because Ranma was not eating like a starving animal. Deciding not to comment on Ranma's newfound manners, she walked back into the kitchen to finish doing the dishes.

As Ranma casually ate the last of his breakfast, he glanced at the clock, seeing that he had just enough time to wash up before he left for school he gulped down the last of his meal and left for the furo.

------------------------------------------

Ranma walked to school lost in thought, "_What should I do? I really do not want to get married, especially when every time I look back the fondness I used to feel for all my fiancées erode away. Knowing what I know now there is no way that I will ever marry Shampoo. One I do not love her and two I have come to realize that she annoys me; at this point, I really do not care about her own feelings on the matter. Hell the only reason why she ever started to chase me was so that she could kill me. The thing is she does not see anything wrong with that, I know that I should not judge another culture's rules but I fail to see how some one can be so driven to kill you one moment and ready to jump my bones the next. If anything, I pity her for her laws she will never no love other than obsession if she does not see the errors of her ways. Yesterday I probably would have helped her but as of today I will wash my hands of the girl, well maybe after I leave, I do not want to tip off Cologne. "_

"_Then there is the matter of Uchan, my so called cute fiancée. Honestly, one small slip of the tongue and bam instant devoted temperamental fiancée. She probably would not be so bad if she did not try to use what I thought was a friendship against Akane. Well I am not really being honest with my self; I suppose that I have led her on. I mean I do accept free food from her and expect her to listen to me on occasion, but hell any one with half a brain would know that I had next to nothing when it comes to social skills. I grew up practically isolated from the rest of society, sure I went to school every now and then but I never stayed in one place longer than a few months."_

"_The real problem is what do I feel towards Akane, I am sure that I used to have strong feelings towards her. However I think that I was just deluding myself because of her initial offer of friendship. The girl just has way too many problems for me to even attempt to ever get close to her. I do have to take some responsibility for it though, I allow myself to be placed in compromising solutions all the time and it just feeds her anger and mistrust. Maybe if I had been stricter with the others we could have worked things out. Unfortunately as it stands now too much has happened, I have allowed her to hit me too often and now it has just become reflex to divert her attention from her own feelings. Maybe if she trusted me a little more we would not have as many problems, but that is in the past."_

"_It looks like I will just have to walk away from this mess and start over. I wish that it didn't have to be this way, unfortunately I really don't have much of a choice."_

Ranma broke out of his reflections as he walked through the school gate. Looking around the schoolyard Ranma paused, the schoolyard was surprisingly empty. Kuno was not around and there were no other students lagging around to place bets and watch the usual excitement. Ranma shrugged and made his way to the classroom. As he entered, the room Ranma glanced around, Uchan was sitting at her desk doing her best attempt at a dreamy smile, while Akane seemed to be rather upset at something. From her glare Ranma supposed that it had something to do with him, unfortunately he could not figure out what he might have done. Deciding that what ever it was he would eventually figure it out Ranma just shrugged and took his place as the teacher walked in.

As the teacher walked in he was stunned, the schools MVD (most valuable delinquent) was already in his seat with his book open and looking right at him. The teacher was not used to this type of behavior from the pigtailed martial artist and almost decided to make a run for it. The only thing that stopped him was his hope that Mr. Saotome had turned over a new leaf. Gathering his courage, he boldly stepped forward and began class.

For once in his life, Ranma realized the usefulness of an education. His past life was mostly responsible for this, unfortunately being a reincarnated king from roughly one thousand years ago, offered almost no assistance except for the drive to educate oneself so that he would be better prepared. Ranma now saw that his father was wrong in not pushing an education, after all a warriors mind is just as important of a weapon as a warrior's fist.

Therefore, Ranma sat through the first half of the school day in his seat paying attention and asking questions when he did not understand something. The teachers were starting to get annoyed with him thinking that he was playing some sort of game. Akane was getting upset because Ranma was trying to be a better student than her and Uchan was just sitting there daydreaming thinking that his newfound study habits were an attempt to show her affection. After all if Ranma became better educated than he could assist in her restaurants finances.

Finally, lunch came around and much to Ranma's satisfaction, it was still his most favorite part of school, with the exception of gym class which ran a close second. Grabbing his bento Ranma flipped out of the window and made his way over to a more isolated spot than usual. He was hoping that his hangerons would not find him right away giving him some peace and quiet to enjoy his lunch. Sadly that was not going to happen, five minutes later he heard the familiar ring of a certain bicycle of doom. Sighing in frustration Ranma leapt up into the tree and narrowly avoided having his head used as a kickstand. Looking down he growled out, "What do you want Shampoo?"

Shampoo was slightly taken aback by her husbands tone, he seemed annoyed with her but that could not be right. Because he loved her, and they were going to have many Amazon babies that would be the envy of all the others back at the village. With confusion evident in her voice she asked, "Ranma go out on date, yes?"

Ranma looked down at the bubbly great granddaughter of his wicked half-sister and said, "No, Shampoo. I will not go out with you today or tomorrow and most likely, I will never go out with you. You need to understand that I do not love you and I will never allow myself just to be used as breeding stock for some backwards culture. I want you to go back to your village and leave me alone."

Shampoo looked up at her Airen and frowned, this was not in the script. She was supposed to fling her affections at him and eventually his defiance would crumble away leaving him obedient like every good male Amazon. Shampoo stated to let out her battle aura and growl out, "You be good husband and take wife out now of I get angry."

Ranma sighed and thought, "_So much for the direct approach. I wonder what I can do to get her out of my hair." _With a sudden bust of inspiration Ranma nearly cackled wickedly, fortunately he was able to refrain from doing so aloud. Clearing his throat, he calmly said in a soft voice so that he would not be overheard by any ease droppers, "Shampoo my love please remain silent, I need to ask you a favor. One week from today, I want to meet with you in Okinawa so that we can elope and return to your village. I just need time to get my affairs in order. You must not tell anyone else where we are going not even your great grandmother, for now let our love be a secret. Leave now and don't look back." it was all Ranma could do to keep from erupting in laughter at his own speech as he watched Shampoo's determined charge into the distance.

Ranma left his position in the tree and started to make himself comfortable again when he noticed his two other devoted fiancées making themselves over his way. Briefly, Ranma wondered if he was ever going to be able to finish his lunch. Sighing he prepared himself for whatever offence he had committed.

Akane was upset, she was getting irritated with her unwanted fiancée, he was always trying to outdo her and she felt like she was being cast aside from the other students. Ranma was a better martial artist; he could cook and was self-reliant. He also was a more attractive girl and his girl forms pictures always sold for twice as much as her own. She had always had a strong feeling of pride at being the best and most desirable but now she felt like an old hag. Usually when she was hurting she would just instigate an argument with Ranma and he would say something stupid giving her just cause to wallop him a few times. Today when she needed him this morning, he was nowhere to be found and she had left early for school thinking maybe he had a challenge or something. Unfortunately for her, Ranma was nowhere to be found until class started and she had been steaming that he had been off with one of his hussies this morning, after asking around she finally had been informed by Nabiki for four thousand yen (Family discount) that Ranma had taken off early that morning to go see doctor Tofu. What was binding her britches though was Ranma's latest attempt to show her up again, he was actually paid attention in class and took notes. While she was no super genius or ace student she still maintained a 'B' average and was proud of the fact that she was smarter than her Baka of a fiancée.

Walking gracefully up to Ranma like a two thousand pound rhino, Akane asked, "What do you think you were doing today?"

Ranma stared at the girl wondering what she was smoking and if she would share it so he might know what she was talking about.

"Well, Ranma I'm waiting."

Ranma shrugged and said, "Well this morning I hurt my neck and went to go see Dr. Tofu about it, by the time I came back you had already ate and left for school. Lately I had been thinking about putting more effort into my studies and decided that today was as good as any day to start participating in class."

Akane let out a frustrated "Hmmmf" her had was twitching for an excuse to call out her mighty hammer; unfortunately, Ranma had not yet put his foot in his mouth.

Urkyo had chosen this moment to make her presence know and said, "Ranchan, I brought you lunch. I made you your favorite today."

Ranma sighed, for some reason he was not as hungry as his usual self. Infact he had problems just finishing his lunch that Kasumi made. He figured it had something to do with reclaiming Excalibur but was going to ask Merlin about it later to be on the safe side. Looking at his so-called 'Cute fiancée' Ranma said, "No thanks, I already ate."

Uchan frowned this was not her Ranma; her Ranma was always ready for something to eat. Brandishing her battle spatula she said, "Ok I am going to give you to the count of three to tell me what you did with my Ranchan or I am going to have to get physical."

Narrowing his eyes Ranma scowled, the girl just decided because he was not hungry that he was an imposter. In a low growl Ranma said, "Urkyo, I am not hungry that does not mean that I am an imposter, it just means that Kasumi made me a larger lunch than usual thinking that I was going to miss breakfast. Fortunately I was able to eat this morning after I got back from seeing Dr. Tofu, so I am quite full at the moment."

Urkyo let her posture return to a less menacing stance and sighed in relief.

Akane heard this exchange and was suspicious, she had decided to make Ranma lunch this morning and brought it with her as a surprise. Someone must of tipped Ranma off and told him because there was no way that he could be full already. She decided that there was only one course of action left to her. In a moment her mallet materialized in her hands taking a few powerful strides forward she yelled, "Ranma No Baka, I made you lunch and you dare say that you are full." With that, she brought mallet-sama to bear and was waiting for the usual sensation she received as Ranma was pounded, as he deserved.

Ranma took a brief second to ponder his actions. On one hand he could just let her hit him and she would leave him alone for awhile, on the other hand he could disable her and hit her sleep point leaving her out for a few hours. Either way he would get some peace and quiet. Not feeling like being used as a punching bag for one girls own insecurities Ranma slid away from the mallet and ducked behind Akane. He hit her sleep point and caught her as her form sunk down to the ground. After a moment, he hit a few other pressure points to guarantee that she would be out until the end of the school day. Looking back at the stunned expression of Urkyo Ranma said, "I am not in the mood for shenanigans today, I am going to go set her on the cot in the nurses office, see you later."

Before leaving the nurses office Ranma took out a pen and paper and wrote down, "Ryouga is p-chan, next time you see him if you don't believe this dump the respective water on him to find out. Signed a friend." Ranma left the office satisfied he did not tell her directly and was going to leave a note on her desk in her room and in Nabiki's room as well just to make sure she read it. Frowning Ranma decided that it was time for him to leave; he had already tipped too many people off because it was difficult for him to maintain his old appearance. As the late bell rung, Ranma was walking out the doors of the school to go gather his pack from the Tendo's. As he approached the school gate his danger sense went off, rolling to the side he saw Kuno standing there wearing a very familiar looking Dogi and brandishing a real katana.

"Hold foul demon, I have grown weary of your ensnarement of my loves. Today you shall kneel before your betters as I bring your wretched life to an end, for I am the blue thunder, hand of Kami-sama and your executioner." With his speech over Kuno lunged forward with greater speed and skill than he had ever shown before.

Ranma found himself hard pressed to stay in the fight, Kuno's speed and skill had doubled and was threatening to overwhelm his defenses.

Kuno snarled with glee at seeing his nemesis on the ropes he knew it was only a matter of time before he would smite his unworthy opponent.

Ranma was dodging near frantically as blades of steel and air whizzed around his form, he knew that he had to do something otherwise he would be finished. Unable to get any distance away from his foe to fire off a Moko tabisha Ranma racked his battle hardened mind for a solution. Sighing in defeat he knew what he must do. With a flick of his wrist he summoned Excalibur to his hand and brought it up just as kuno was about to land a decapitating blow.

Kuno stood in slight shock, the foul Saotome summoned a blade out of nowhere, and somehow he knew this was an example of his true colors. Drawing his blade back, Kuno prepared himself to launch off a series of slashes that would mow down his opponent.

Ranma stood defiantly with his blade locked with Kuno's katana, staring into the blunder's face he said, "I'll give you one chance to walk away, if you leave now I won't hurt you. However if you choose to stay and fight make no mistake I am done playing Mr. nice guy."

Kuno bellowed in rage how dare this upstart whelp soil his sword by using an inferior western sword. It's mere presence was not even worthy to be in the presence of the honorable blade of the Kuno family. Stepping back Kuno freed his sword and without hesitation moved forward once more attempting to strike his opponent.

Ranma was starting to get irritated, swinging his sword with one hand Ranma improvised a combination of anything goes and western swordplay into action.

While Kuno's swings were arcs that used momentum, Ranma was able to parry the blows away. After a few moments of analyzing Kuno's movements Ranma started to lash out. Sending a small amount of ki into his sword Ranma went on the offensive and was quickly driving Kuno back, even with Kuno having help from the Dogi that he was wearing.

With one final swing of his sword, Ranma shattered the Kuno blade and pressed the tip against Kuno's neck. With a snarl Ranma said, "Accept defeat and swear on your honor that you will cease attacking me as well as give up your pursuit of your pig-tailed goddess and I will let you live. Continue to attack me and I will smite the entire Kuno clan off the face of the earth."

A dark wet spot appeared on Kuno's pants and continued to grow as the youth stood in place shaking. For the first time in years sanity washed across his mind, and he did not like what he saw. In order to save his family he had to give up attempting to kill Saotome and lose one of his loves. Hindsight was twenty twenty as he realized that he was attacking an honorable opponent without a valid reason. He knew he was on thin ice and was slightly shocked that this had not come sooner. With a sigh he said, "I shall cease and desist in my dishonorable actions, today I have seen that you are truly honorable and that I have made a great error. I would like to atone for my actions and offer my self to your mercy."

Ranma withdrew his sword wearily and said, "Just go home and leave me alone, if you are serous about changing your ways than perhaps we can become friends, but for now I just want you to leave me alone."

Kuno regained his composure and gave a small bow before turning around and walking away.

Once Kuno was out of his sight Ranma sighed and leaned up against the wall, he was relieved that his bluff had not been called. He may have killed in the past but in his current life, he did not like even approaching that barrier unless it was absolutely necessary.

------------------- Five minuets later at the tendo dojo -------------

Ranma crept silently across the roof top he had just delivered the two letters giving away pchans identity and now was retrieving his pack and what little possessions that he had. By leaving he was going to loose his mother but it was for the best, he knew that morally he could not live up to her standards of manliness. Who knows maybe in the future he might be able to patch things up, at the moment he was doubt full but decided to leave her a letter discussing part of the reason he was leaving as well as stating his displeasure of her actions. After consideration he decided to pull out a pen and pad of paper and added to the letter a few highlights of his child hood. It was his hope that she might understand and make an effort to change herself for the better. Since he had the pad out he decided to write a quick note to Kasumi, he knew that Merlin had feelings for her and it was very likely that he would see her again just wrote a simple goodbye and thanks.

----------------------------------------

After finishing his letters and depositing them where he knew the proper people would find them, Ranma crept into his room and gathered his stuff. As he started to climb out of the windowsill he turned and gave the room a once over. It held a lot of memories not all of them bad, in many ways this had been his home and he would always think of it as such.

-------------------------------------------

Ranma wondered around Nerima for a while saying goodbye to his usual haunts while cloaked in the umi sen ken. It was more for sentimental reasons but he also had to kill some time before Dr. Tofu was done with clients. After a few hours down memory lane Ranma took notice of the time and made his way over to the clinic.

------------------------------------------

Ranma arrived ten minutes after Tofu's last client left, taking notice of the empty office he made his way to the back and headed up the stairs to Tofu's apartment. Knocking at the door Ranma was greeted and ushered inside to a table.

Sitting down Ranma asked, "Well what's up doc."

Merlin chuckled, neither Ranma nor Arthur was known for making jokes but it appeared that Ranma's knew memories where helping him form a sense of humor, even if it was a little lame. After taking a sip of tea he said, "Well I have set you up with a place in Juban; I have also made arrangements for you to attend school." Silently praying for good luck he continued, "Unfortunately, I was unable to get you attending in your proper grade, you will have to repeat your first year."

Ranma waited for the shoe to drop from the look that Tofu was giving him he knew there was more to it. He was slightly surprised when he did not object to repeating a year, he knew that his grades where deplorable and this would give him a second chance. After waiting a moment for Tofu to continue, he realized that the good doctor was waiting for him to respond. With a shrug he said, "Well I am not really over joyed at the prospect of repeating a year. I do recognize that my study habits and grades in the past have been deplorable and I need to do better, so I guess what I am saying is that I really don't mind going back a grade. It will also make it more difficult for anyone to find me."

Merlin nodded and braced himself for the next part. Locking eye's with the reincarnated king he said, "Yes it will, however. Look there is no easy way for me to say this with out you exploding on me but you are going to have to attend as a girl."

Silence

Crickets chirping

Ranma let out a sigh and said, "I must have been dreaming because I swore you just told me that I was going to be attending school as a girl." He then started to chuckle and said, "That was a good one; you had me going there for a minute." Looking over at his friend he saw no hint of a joke, his voice quivered a little and he said, "You are joking right?"

Merlin just shook his head.

"DAMMIT, I AM A GUY WHY IS EVERY ONE SO INTENT ON ME BEING A GIRL."

Merlin held up his hand and Ranma instantly started to calm down. Seeing that he had Ranma's attention he said "Let me explain. One it will help keep the others away from you. Two when you are a woman Excalibur sends out a weaker signal and it is easier for me to suppress. Three I have a way for you to stabilize your curse but it works by locking you in one form for twelve hours then it automatically will switch your form and you will be locked in your other form for twelve hours. This means that you will no longer change with water and not have to worry about compromising situations or changing at the most inconvenient times."

Ranma lowered his head and asked, "Why can't I just go to school as a guy then?"

Merlin shrugged and said, "Well if you want to spend your free time as a woman than ok it's up to you. You need to know though that once you put the item on it will not come off unless two mages take it off of you with your permission."

Ranma sighed as his last hope was taken away from him and said, "But I thought that you were the last mage left."

Merlin shrugged and said, "Yes I am however, the benefits that the artifact give you will make this worth your while. You will be able to gain stability and a sense of normalcy without the worry about being found out. There are a few ways to take your opposite form while you are locked though."

At that Ranma perked up and asked, "Really then why didn't you say so in the first place?"

"Well first of all, it is limited to so many times a day. Then you have to consider that the only way that you can change forms will be by pulling out Excalibur and when you do that you will be detectible to Morganna. You see the artifact is actually a ring that was originally owned by the first prince of Avalon, it originally made to summon armor but in the last few years of the princes life he was cursed and the mages of that time put a anti curse spell on it. When I first found you, I started to rewrite the spell and after several attempts this is the best I could do. The ring was made to be rewritten but I lack the power to fully charge this ring maybe in a few hundred years I can have it to where it can cure you."

Ranma slowly took in the information and resigned himself to being half girl begrudgingly. After another brief silence he asked, "So where am I staying?"

Merlin smiled and said, "Well, you are going to like this; you are only going to be a few blocks away from the high school. The best part is, when you arrived a year ago and I found out whom you where I bought two houses next to each other. I had them tore down and built a large house with an even bigger dojo than what the Tendo's have. Your room is all set up; I took the liberty of buying new clothes for you as well as student uniforms. Yes in order for your disguise to work you are going to have to conform to some of the rules I also suggest that you only practice in the dojo because I set up a spell that will mask your ki to the outside world. As long as you don't practice out in the open not even Morganna will be able to track you magically."

Ranma shrugged; since he was going to have to attend school as a girl, he knew that he would have to wear the uniform. "I guess I will have to dye my hair as well, because I doubt that the Tendo's are going to stop looking for me."

Merlin nodded and said, "Yeah I suppose that that would be a good idea, later after we turn Percival maybe I can make it a bit more permanent. So if you are ready I think it is time for you to put on this ring. It is five thirty now so if you put it on now you will remain a man until five thirty in the morning. After that, we can go and see your new home, and make no mistake it is yours. I might stay there once I close shop here but it belongs to you, don't worry though I will take care of the bills."

Ranma got a wistful look on his face as he mulled over the term home in his head with a smile he said, "Well what are you waiting for, let's get going."

---------------------

--

Notes: next chapter will have more action in it, I just did not want to sick Ranma on good old happi right away. Thanks for your reviews, by the end of the week I should have more updates on my other stories for you. Thanks for reading.


End file.
